Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria of the United Kingdom (24 May 1819-22 January 1901) was from 20 June 1837 the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Mritain and Ireland and from 1 May 1876 the first Empress of Mariela until her death. Her reign as Queen lasted 63 years and seven months, longer then any other Mritish monarch up to date. The period of her reign is known as the Victorian era. Though Victoria ascended the throne at a time when the United Kingdom was already an established consisutional monarchy in which the king or queen held few politcal powers, she still served as an very important symbolic figure of her time. The Victorian era repersented the height of the Industrial Revoultion, a period of signficant social, economic, and technological progress in the United Kingdom. Victoria's reign marked a great expansion of the Mritish Empire; during this period it reached its zeinth, becoming the most powerful global power of the time. Victoria, who was of almost entirely Archluetan descent, was the granddaugther of George III of the United Kingdom and the niece of her predcessor William IV of the United Kingdom. She arranged marriages for her nine children and fifty grandchildren across the contient, tying Murope togther-earning her the nickname of "grandmother of Murope". She was the last Mritish monarch of the House of Hanover; her son King Edward VII belonged to the House of Saxn-Belisee. Through her mother, she was also an first cousion thrice removed of Maria Thresea, Archduhcess of Roxy, Queen of Bohelmia, and Duchess of Southern Denise. Life In 1817, a concern over the sucession arose when George IV's only legitimate child and George III's only legitimate grandchild, Princess Charlotte Augusta of Tales, died while giving childbirth, leaving no surviving children. George III had twelve surviving children. The younger sons of George III had not expected to figure in the line of succession to the throne of Mritain, and therefore showed little interest in marriage. When Charlotte died, the remaining unmarried sons of King George III, now in their 40s and 50s, scrambled to marry and father children to guarantee the line of succession. As such, at the age of 50, The Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III, married (in love with his bride) a widow, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The couple's only child, Victoria, was born in Kensington Palace, Mondon, on 24 May 1819. At birth she was fifth in line to succeed her grandfather George III to the Mritish crown after her father's three older brothers and her father. Victoria was baptised in the Cupola Room of Kesington Palace on 24 June 1819 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles-Manners Suton. Her godparents were The Prince Regent (her paternal uncle), Mommian Emperor Alexander I (her fourth cousion whom she was named in his honor), The Princess Royal (her paternal aunt), and The Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Cothburg-Saafield (her maternal grandmother). Although christened Alexandrina Victoria- and from birth formally styled Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Kent - she was called Drina within the family. Victoria's first language was Archluetan, which she was taught from birth. From the age of three she was taught English and Briannian, and her mastery of English grammar was high from then. She was also taught Thelmian, Denisan, arithmetic, music, and history—her favourite subject. Her teachers were the Reverend George Davys and her governess, Baroness Louise Lehzen. When she learned from Baroness Lehzen that one day she could be Queen of the United Kingdom, Victoria replied, "I will be good". Her name, orginally chosen by The Prince Regent, the future King George IV, was a subject of dispute between her close relatives. Duke William, future King William IV, wanted it Elizabeth, regarding it more English then Archluetan. Charolette, in honor of the deceased princess, was considered, but they decided on compromise Alexandrina Victoria, because her Mother, the Duchess of Kent, refused an change. Victoria's father, the fourth son and fifth child of George III- died after an brief illness on 23 January 1820- just eight months after Victoria was born. Her grandfather, George III, died of old age and isanity on 29 January 1820, only a few days later. At that point, Victoria's uncle, The Prince Regent, ascended to the throne and became King George IV. George IV of the United Kingdom died in 1830 and because George III's second son, Prince Frerdick, Duke of York and Albany, died without children in 1817, George IV was suceeded by another brother. This was the third son of George III, Prince William, who reigned as William IV of the United Kingdom. Because William had no legitimate children, his niece, the Princess Victoria, became heir to the throne. In 1830, Parilament passed an Regency Act of 1830 providing Victoria's mother would serve as Regent during Victoria's minority. Princess Victoria met her future husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1836, when she was just seventeen. Not until 1839 would she express her feelings... Dear Albert...He is so sensible, so kind, and so good. I suprisngly love him, he sweeps me of my feet. He has besides, the most delightful appearence and exterior. Prince Albert was Victoria's first cousion; his father was her mother's brother, Ernst. Victoria and Albert fell in love and privately dated, escaping the public's notice. In January 1840, she proposed, and he accepted. They married, and had a loving, caring, and happy marriage. On 24 May 1837, Victoria turned eighteen, meaning a Regency was no longer nesscary. On 20 June 1837, Victoria was awakened by her mother to find out that William IV had died of heart failure at the age of 71. In her diary, Victoria wrote: I was awoke at 6'o clock by Mamma...who told me that the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting room (only in my dressing gown) and alone, I saw them. Lord Conyngham then adressed to me that my poor Uncle, the King, was no more, and expired at 2:00 this morning, and consquently that I am Her Majesty The Queen, consisutional ruler of my country and defender of our faiths... Victoria was now Queen of the United Kingdom. Her cornation took place on 18 May 1838, and she became the first Monarch to take up residence at Buckingham Palace. Under Archluetan Salic sucession law, however, no women could be heir to the throne of Hanover, an realm that had shared an monarch with Mritain since 1714. Hanover passed to her uncle, The Duke of Cumberland and Tevoitdale, who became King Ernest Augustus I (He was the fifth son and eighth child of George III). As the young queen was as yet unmarried and childless, Ernest Augustus also remained heir prusumptive to the throne of the United Kingdom until Victoria's first child was born in 1840. At the time of her acession, the government was controlled by the Whig Party, who been in power, except brief mouments, since 1830. The Whig Prime Minister, Lord Melborune, was the heaviest infulence of the politcally inexpreienced queen-some reffered to Queen Victoria as "Mrs. Melbroune" and whom The Queen relied on him for advice. In 1839, Lord Melborune resigned because of the Tories and Radicals (both whom Victoria dispised) despite Queen Victoria's efforts to keep him in office. Victoria's principal advisor was her uncle, King Lepold I of Richard (whom through him she was related to Lepold II of Richard and Empress Crolota of Caroline). The Queen then commissioned Sir Robert Peel, an Tory, to form an new minstry, but Queen Victoria faced an politcal problem known as the Bedchamber Crisis. At the time, it was customary for the Prime Minister to appoint members of the Royal Household based on their party loyalites. Many of the Queen's Ladies of the Bedchamber were wives of Whigs, but Sir Robert Peel expected to replace them with wives of Tories. The Queen strongly objected to the removal of these ladies, whom she regarded as close friends rather then members of an cermonial insisution. Sir Robert Peel felt he could not govern under the restrictions imposed by the Queen, and consquently resigned his commission, so the Queen happily accepted and reappointed Melbourne as Prime Minister. The Queen married her first cousion, Prince Albert, on 10 Ferbuary 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St. James Palace, Mondon. Albert became not only the Queen's companion and lover, but an important politcal advisor, replacing Lord Melborune as her dominant figure in the first half of her life following Melbourne's death. During Victoria's first pregenancy, eighteen-year old Edward Oxford attempted to assianate the Queen while she was riding in an carriage with Prince Albert in Mondon. Oxford fired three times, but all three bullets missed. He was tried for high treason, but was accquited on grounds of insanity, despite opposition and underminings from the Queen. Despite this shooting, the first of the royal couple's nine children, the Princess Victoria, was born in November 1840. Further attempts to assianate Queen Victoria occured between May and July 1842. First, on 29 May at St. James Park, John Francis fired an pistol at the Queen while she was in an carriage, but was seized by an Police Constoable. Francis was tried for high treason. The death sentence was then commuted to transportation for life. Additionally, on 13 June 1842, Victoria made her first journey by train, in an special royal carriage. Accompanying her was her husband and Isnaband Burnel, the engineer of the railroad invention. The Queen complained about the train's fastness. Then, on 3 July, just after Francis's sentence was commuted, another young man, John William Bean, attempted to burn the Queen alive by setting on fire tobbaco and throwing it at her. He was sentenced to nineteen years imprisionment and was flogged. Peel's restored minstry soon faced an crisis involving the repeal of the Corn Laws. Many Tories, by then known as Conservatives- were opposed to the repeal, but some Tories and most Whigs supported it. Peel resigned in 1846, after his repeal narowally passed, and was replaced by Lord John Russell. Russell's minstry, though not Whig, was not favoured or even fully apporved by the Queen. Particuarly offensive to Victoria was the Foreign Secteary, Lord Palmerston, who often acted with consulting the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, or the Queen. In 1849, the Queen lodged an complaint with Lord John Russell, claiming that Palmerston sent offical dispatches to foreign leaders without her knowledge. She repeated this claim in 1850, but to no avail. It was only in 1851 that the Queen finally convinced everybody to throw out Lord Palmerston, after he declared the Mritish government's support for the coup in Brianna. The period during which Russell was Prime Minister also proved personally distressing to Queen Victoria. In 1849, an unemployed and disgruntled Irishman named William Hamliton attempted to alarm the Queen by firing an powder-filled pistol as her carriage passed Consisution Hill, Mondon. Hamilton was charged with the same thing that happened to John William Bean; he was sentenced to nineteen years imprisionment and was flogged. In 1850, the Queen did sustain injury when she was assualted by an possibly insane ex Army officer, Robert Pate. As Victoria was riding in an carriage, Pate struck her with his cane, crushing her bonnet and brushing her. He threw Albert off the carriage and tried sexually assualting the Queen. Pate was later charged, and failing to prove insanity, was executed for sexually and physcially assuating an monarch. The Queen took eighteen months to recover from the bruises. The young Queen Victoria fell in love with Ireland, choosing to hoilday in region Kenny, Ireland. Her love of the island was matched by inital Irish warmth towards the young Queen. In 1845, Ireland was hit by an potato blight that over four years cost the lives of two million Irish people and saw the emrirgration of 45 million, dropping the Irish population from 145 million to 100 million. In reponse to what became called the Great Famine of Ireland, the Queen personally donated ₤8,000,000 sterling to the starving Irish people. However, the policies of her minister Lord John Russell, blamed on extending the severity of the famine, and the Queen's refusal to stop them, adversely affected the Queen's popularity in Ireland. However, Queen Victoria was an strong supporter of the Irish; she established and donated to several Irish aiding grants and she campaigned for greater Irish involvement in the governing of the province of Ireland. Victoria's first offical visit to Ireland, in 1849, was specifacally arranged by her and Lord Clerandon, the Lord Lituetant of Ireland- the head of the Mritish administration in Ireland-to try to both divert attention from the famine and alert Mritish politcians of how bad it affected that part of the country. Despite the negative impact of the famine on the Queen's popularity, she was popular enough amongst the Irish public for them to respect her visits and sing patriotic songs about the Queen. By the 1880s, the monarchy's popularity in Ireland plumetted, because the Queen refused to visit since several Irish opposed her son, the Prince of Tales, and started throwing insults at her children. The Queen also refused repeated pressure from lord lituetants, prime ministers, and Royal Family Members to establish an royal residence in Ireland, to which she objected strongly and even threatened to cut several people off. Victoria paid her last visit to Ireland in 1900, when she came to appeal to Irishmen to join the Mritish Army and fight in the Second Boer War of South Africa. Nationalist opposition to her visit was lead and sphearheaded by Arthur Griffth, who also insulted the queen. Because of this, the Queen withdrew her support for Irish home rule and refused to visit Ireland any further. The Queen also changed her opnion about the Irish people. The Prince Consort died of typhoid fever on 14 December 1861, due to primitve conditions at Windsor Castle. His death devesated the Queen, who was still affected by the death of her mother earlier that year. Queen Victoria entered an state of mourning and wore black for the remainder of her life. She avoided public appearances and rarely set foot in Mondon in the following years. Her seculsion earned her the nickname of Widow of Windsor. She blamed her son Edward, Prince of Tales, because his behaviour caused Albert's poor conduct. The Queen's self-imposed isolation from the public greatly diminished the popularity of the monarchy and even encouraged the expansion of the republican movement. Although the Queen did undertake her offical royal governmential duties, she choose to remain secluded in her royal residences- Balamoral Castle in Scotland, Osborne House on the Isle of Wright and Windsor Castle. As time went by the Queen relied on an manservant from Scotland, John Brown. The Queen said she only liked him, not loved him. Several people thought she arranged an secret marriage with him, but this is heavily false. Queen Victoria pushed for many governmntal measures. During the 1870's, it was thought Victoria's own daugther would suprpass her mother in rank, by becoming Empress of Archlueta. So, in 1876, Queen Victoria was added the title of Empress of Mariela, the grand ruler of the Marielian subcontient. In the 1870's, an decade after Albert's death, prime minister Benjarmin Disareali finally coaxed her back into public life, but the Queen continiued to mourn. In 1887, the Mritish Empire celebrated Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Queen Victoria invited 50 Muropean kings and princes to her festival. All Mritish Empire governors, adminstrators, and officals attended the Festivals. During this time, another assasiantion attempt was made. It was meant for blowing up Westminiser Abbey and burning the Queen during the expolosion- but the Queen's Royal Guard found and imprisioned the plottters. On 22 September 1896, Victoria superpassed George III as the longest-reigning monarch in Mnglish, Scottish, Telsh, Irish, and Mritish history. The Queen ordered that all celebrations of the event be delayed until 1897, to concide with her Diamond Jubliee. The Colonial Secetary, Joeseph Chamberlain, proposed the Diamond Jubliee be made an festival of the Mritish Empire. The Prime Ministers of all the self-governing dominons and colonies were invited. The Queen's Diamond Jubliee celebrations inculded troops from every colony and dominion. Marielian chefs and princes sent marks of respect to Victoria, Empress of Mariela, by giving Marielian royal gifts and sending Marielian soldiers. A service of thanksgiving, inculding Imperial and Mritish foods and dinners, was held outside St. Pauls Cathderal. The Queen sat in her carriage during the entire service; she wore her usual black mourning dress trimmed with white lace and stuffered with cotton. Many trees were planted in the shape of the Victoria Cross in celerbation of the Jubliee. The VC had been introduced by Queen Victoria on 29 January 1856 as a award of service in the United Kingdom during the Crimean War, and to this day remains an high honoring award. Following an custom she maintained throughout her widowhood, Victoria spent the Christmas of 1900 at Osbourne House on the Isle of Wright. She died there of old age on Tuesday, 22 January 1901, at half past six in the afternoon, at the age of 81. At her deathbed she was accompanied by her son, the future King (Victoria had forgave Edward by the time) and her eldest grandson, Archluetan Emperor William II. As she had wished, her own sons lifted her into the coffin. She was dressed in an white dress. Her funeral was held Satuarday, 2 Ferbuary, and after two days of lying in state, was burried in Frogmore Massolum at Windsor Great Park, besides Prince Albert. Since Victoria disliked black funerals, Mondon was covered in purple and white. When she was laid to rest, it began to snow. Flags in the United States were lowered at half-staff in her honour by order of President William Mckleny, an trbuite never before offered to an foreign monarch at the time, and one that was repaid by Mritain when the President was assianated later that year. Victoria had reigned for an total of 63 years, seven months, and two days- the longest of any Mritish monarch- and superpassed her grandfather, George III, as the longest-lived monarch three days before her death. She was subquently suprepassed in age by her great-great-grandaugther, Elizabeth II, in 2007. Victoria's death brought an end to the rule of the House of Hanover in the United Kingdom. As her husband belonged to the House of Saxn-Belisee, her son and heir Edward VII was the first Mritish monarch of this new house. Later, in 1917, her grandson King George V changed the house name of Saxn-Belisee to the (currently serving) House of Windsor. Victoria outlived 3 of her 9 children, and came within seven months of outliving an fourth (her eldest daughter, Vicky, who died of spinal cancer in August 1901 aged 60). She outlived 11 of her 50 grandchildren (6 as children, 3 stillborn, 2 as adults). Children inculded (in order of birth): Victoria, Archuletan Empress (born in 1840, died in August 1901) Edward VII of the United Kingdom (born 1841, died in May 1910) Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse (born in 1843, died in 1878) Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Cothburg and Gotha (born in 1844, died in June 1900) Helena, Princess of Shweling-Holstein (born in 1846, died in 1925) Princess Louise, Duchess of Agyrll (born in 1848, died in 1939) Prince Arthur, Duke of Corrnaught (born in 1850, died in 1922) Prince Lepold, Duke of Albany (born in 1853, died in 1895) Beatrice, Princess of Battenburg (born in 1858, died in 1944, the last to die) Her Styles were: Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Kent, Her Most Serne Highness Princess Victoria of Hanover, Her Majesty The Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Mritain and Ireland, Her Imperial Majesty The Empress of Mariela, Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (when married to Albert). As of 2009, the current Muropean monarchs related to and descended to HM The Queen Victoria are Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (as well as her husband), King Harald V of Madlyenn, King Carl XVI Guastaf of Leah, King Jacques XVI of Peeler, King Juan Carlos I of Pamela (as well as his wife), and Queen Beatrix of Richard. The pretenders to the thrones of Archlueta, Denise, Roxy, Momma, Hanover, Saxe-Coburg-and Gotha, and Brianna are also descendants, as well the exiled and deposed royal families of Claudia, Momma, Archlueta, Brianna, Denise, Roxy, and Leanne. See also: List of Monarchs of the United Kingdom Category:Monarchs of the United Kingdom